As part of its “Make the Season Kind” holiday campaign, the CBC has teamed up with local celebrities to encourage Canadians to donate to the country’s food banks.

Several campaign spots feature more than 25 iconic actors, athletes and singers – including Jay Baruchel, Mark Critch, Andre De Grasse, Allan Hawco and Shania Twain – who invite Canadians to donate to their local food banks. The videos direct to a dedicated campaign page for more information on how to donate. It is also appearing on YouTube as OLV, in contextual ads, connected TV, as well as CBC’s owned platforms. It is also being supported by local campaigns and community outreach throughout December.

Initiative handled the media buy, while CBC created the campaign concept, with Off Screen Romance co-producing.

Maya Kane, executive director of marketing and communications at CBC, tells MiC that with more than two-dozen personalities in the campaign, the team had to create multiple video treatments for different platforms to keep it feeling fresh and to sustain the campaign throughout the holiday season.

“Who better to inspire Canadians to give than our own homegrown talent?… We leaned into a concept that allowed for everyone to be involved in acts of giving but provided opportunities for different treatments,” Kane says. “To generate attention and introduce the campaign, we asked prominent Canadians to help us create some noise and our media placements reflect that strategy as well.”

Kane emphasizes that “Make the Season Kind” is the manifestation of more than 20 years of CBC’s work in the community during the holidays. Each year, CBC stations in every province organize charity drives to support food banks and organizations in their community. According to the network, the company has raised $51 million from local initiatives since 2015.

While this is a significant accomplishment, Kane says the team realized the initiatives had not been told on a national scale, so they decided to combine all of them into a nationwide campaign with Canadian celebrities to deliver the message for the first time. “We unified all of the local campaigns under one name, and introduced the work that we do in the community by leaning into Canadians’ reputation for being kind to inspire generosity and giving of all kinds in their community,” she says.

The team wants to communicate the change to its core audience, which was already familiar with the names from previous local campaigns, but also aims to reach new consumers. The campaign also aligns with CBC’s larger goal of showcasing its contribution to the community by bringing Canadians together through programming and news.

“With 48 CBC stations across the country, we really are in a position to reflect and connect Canada in a way that no one else can. ‘Make the Season Kind’ is shining a spotlight on this unique connection to the community and what we do differently as a foundational part of our brand,” Kane says.